Vampires
(sometimes vampyres) are mythological or folkloric creatures
believed to be the re-animated corpses of human beings who subsist on
human or animal blood. In folklore, the term usually refers to the
blood-drinking humans of Eastern European legends, but it is often
extended to cover similar legendary creatures from other regions and
cultures. The characteristics of vampires vary widely between these
different traditions. Some cultures also have stories of non-human
vampires, including real animals such as bats,
dogs,spiders, and mythical creatures such as the chupacabra.

Vampires
are a frequent subject of fictional books and films, although fictional
vampires are often attributed traits distinct from those of folkloric
vampires.

Christopher
Lee as Count Dracula

The
term vampire is also used to refer to mythical or fictional creatures
that act as predatory parasites, draining power, energy, or life from
unwilling victims. Creatures who act in this manner are often considered
part of the vampire archetype, even if they do not consume blood.

Vampirism
is the practice of drinking blood from a person or animal. In folklore
and popular culture, the term refers to a belief that one can gain
supernatural powers by drinking human blood. The historical practice of
vampirism can generally be considered a more specific and less commonly
occurring form of cannibalism. The consumption of another's blood (or
flesh) has been used as a tactic of psychological warfare intended to
terrorize the enemy, and can be used to reflect various spiritual
beliefs.

In
zoology and botany, the term vampirism is used in reference to leeches,
mosquitos, mistletoe, vampire bats, and other organisms that subsist on
the bodily fluids of others.

Etymology

The
English word vampire was borrowed (perhaps via French vampyre)
from German Vampir, in turn borrowed in early 18th century from
Serbian вампир/vampir,
or, according to some sources, from Hungarianvámpír. The Serbian and Hungarian forms have some parallels in
some Slavic languages. Bulgarian вампир
(vampir) or въпир (vəpir),
Macedonian вампир (vampir)
or вапир (vapir), Polishwampir or (archaic) wąpierz, Czechvampýr. Previous links with the Slovak upír, Polish upiór,
Russian упырь (upyr' ),
Belarussian упiр (upyr), Ukrainianупир (upyr), from Old Russianупирь (upir' ), the
etymology remains uncertain. Among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *ǫpyrь
and *ǫpirь. The Slavic word
might, like its possible Russian cognate netopyr'
("bat"), come from the Proto-Indo-European root for "to
fly". Earlier theories had it that the Slavic word comes from a
Turkic word denoting an evil supernatural entity (cf. Kazan Tatar ubyr
"witch"). This theory has since been proved obsolete. The
first recorded use of the word 'Vampire' was from Austrian-controlled
Serbia in reports prepared by Austrian police officials between 1725 and
1732 investigating reports of a citizen arising from the dead to attack
villagers.

Research
by Prof Tallas et al, published November 2006 suggests that the
etymology of the word 'vampire' is far more likely to be Germanic in
origin based on the publication of the "Prolander Script"
dated c. 944 AD where the word vampir is cited.

Vampire
analogies in ancient cultures

Tales
of the dead craving blood are found in nearly every culture around the
world, including some of the most ancient ones. Vampire-like spirits
called the Lilu are mentioned in early Babylonian demonology, and the
bloodsucking Akhkharu even earlier in the Sumerian mythology. These
female demons were said to roam during the hours of darkness, hunting
and killing newborn babies and pregnant women. One of these demons,
named Lilitu, was later adapted into Jewish demonology as Lilith.

In
India, tales of the
Vetalas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses, are found in old
Sanskrit folklore. A prominent story tells of King Vikramāditya and
his nightly quests to capture an elusive Vetala. The stories of the
Vetala have been compiled in the book Baital Pachisi. The vetala
is an undead, who like the bat associated with modern day vampire, is
associated with hanging upside down on trees found in cremation grounds
and cemeteries.

The
hopping corpse is an equivalent of the vampire in Chinese
tradition; however, it consumes the victim's life essence (qì) rather
than blood.

The
Ancient
Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in one myth became full of bloodlust after
slaughtering humans and was only sated after drinking alcohol colored as
blood.

The
strix, a nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood is mentioned
in Roman tales. The Romanian word for vampires, strigoi, is derived from
the word, and so is the name of the Albanian Shtriga, but the myths
about those creatures show mainly Slavic influence.

As
an example of the existence and prominence of similar legends at later
times, it can be noted that 12th century English
historians and chroniclers Walter Map and William of Newburgh recorded
accounts of revenants that arguably bear some resemblance to East European
vampires.

The
vampire myth as we know it is most strongly rooted in East European and
above all Slavic folklore (dealt with more thoroughly in the next
section), where vampires were revenants accused of killing people, often
by drinking blood, but also by throttling, or sitting on them and
preventing breathing. A vampire could be destroyed by cutting off its
head, by driving a wooden stake into its heart, or by burning the
corpse.

Folk
beliefs in vampires

It
seems that until the 19th century, vampires in Europe were thought to be
hideous monsters from the grave. They were usually believed to rise from
the bodies of suicide victims, criminals, or evil sorcerers, though in
some cases an initial vampire thus "born of sin" could pass
his vampirism onto his innocent victims. In other cases, however, a
victim of a cruel, untimely, or violent death was susceptible to
becoming a vampire. Most of Romanian vampire folk beliefs (except
Strigoi) and European vampire stories have Slavic origins.

Modern belief in vampires

Belief in vampires persists to this day. While some cultures preserve
their original traditions about the immortal, most modern-day believers
are more influenced by the fictional
image of the vampire as it occurs in films and literature.

In the 1970s, there were rumours (spread by the local press) that a
vampire haunted Highgate
Cemetery in London.
Amateur vampire hunters flocked in large numbers in the cemetery.
Several books have been written about the case, notably by Sean
Manchester, a local man who was among the first to suggest the existence
of the "Highgate
Vampire" and who later claimed to have exorcised
and destroyed a whole nest of vampires in the area.

In the modern folklore of
Puerto
Rico and Mexico,
the chupacabra
(goat-sucker) is said to be a creature that feeds upon the flesh
or drinks the blood of domesticated
animals, leading some to consider it a kind of vampire. The "chupacabra
hysteria" was frequently associated with deep economic and
political crises, particularly during the mid-1990s.

During late 2002 and early 2003,
hysteria
about alleged attacks of vampires swept through the African
country of Malawi.
Mobs stoned one individual to death and attacked at least four others,
including Governor Eric
Chiwaya, based on the belief that the government was colluding with
vampires.

In
Romania
during February of 2004, several relatives of the late Toma Petre feared
that he had become a vampire. They dug up his corpse, tore out his
heart, burned it, and mixed the ashes with water in order to drink it.

In January 2005, rumors began to circulate that an attacker had
bitten a number of people in Birmingham, England,
fueling concerns about a vampire roaming the streets. However, local
police stated that no such crime had been reported. This case appears to
be an urban
legend.

In 2006, Costas Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi published a piece that
uses geometric
progression to attempt to disprove the feeding habits of vampires,
stating that, if each vampire's nourishment depended on making even one
other person a vampire, it would only be a matter of years before the
Earth's entire population was among the undead
or vampires died out. However, this notion that a vampire's victims must
themselves become vampires does not appear in all vampire folklore, and
is not universally accepted by modern vampire believers. This theory
also assumes that a single bite turns the victim into a vampire, which
is not generally the case in most vampire lore.

New England

During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires was
widespread in parts of New England, particularly in Rhode
Island and Eastern Connecticut.
In this region there are many documented cases of families disinterring
loved ones and removing their hearts in the belief that the deceased was
a vampire who was responsible for sickness and death in the family
(although the word "vampire" was never used to describe
him/her). The deadly tuberculosis,
or "consumption" as it was known at the time, was believed to
be caused by nightly visitations on the part of a dead family member
(who had died of consumption him/herself).
The most famous (and latest recorded) case is that of nineteen year old Mercy
Brown who died in Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892. Her father, assisted
by the family physician, removed her from her tomb two months after her
death. Her heart was cut out then burnt to ashes.
An account of this incident was found among the papers of Bram Stoker
and the story closely resembles the events in his classic novel,
Dracula.